The bivalves occupy a wide variety of habitats and, as a consequence, deviate widely from the basic body plan. The shell form is an obvious adaptation to the environment. Shells of many modern burrowers are ornamented and coloured, and those of near-surface-dwelling cockles are thick and radially ribbed. These adaptations stabilize the animal in the substrate and may confer some degree of protection against predators. Such bivalves are slow burrowers. In contrast, the shells of deep-burrowing species are thin and nonornamented. They are often brightly coloured, as in the Tellinidae. The shell is laterally compressed and thus more bladelike, but the adductor muscles are still of similar size (the isomyarian form). Such structural features adapt the animal for rapid movement through the sand; long siphons project to the surface above. Deep burrowing has been achieved by a different mechanism in the razor shells (e.g., the family Solenidae), where the anterior region of the shell is reduced and the posterior enormously elongate. Because of their short siphons, Ensis and Solen live close to the sediment surface, but, with the lateral compression of their polished shells, they are among the most proficient burrowers. Other bivalves—e.g., Mya (family Myidae)—live at great depths but do not burrow rapidly. The shell is largely unornamented and wider to accommodate the greatly elongated siphons, which can be retracted deeply within its borders.

Rock and wood boring are also specialized consequences of burrowing—the evolution of borers proceeded from the habitation of stiff muds or from nestling within crevices. Mechanical borers tunnel anterior end first; that face of the shell having a sculpture of spines. Borers derived from a nestling epibyssate ancestor are chemical borers that produce a calcium carbonate chelating secretion from the mantle margin. In such cases the shell is typically smooth, although calcareous encrustations on the posterior shell protect the borer from aperture-attacking predators. Reduction of the anterior adductor (the anisomyarian form) creates a triangular-shaped shell, as in the buried fan shell Pinna (Pinnidae) and the mussels (Mytilidae) of rocky coasts. Although such bivalves lack ornamentation, the shell is typically thick and dark.

Loss of the anterior adductor creates a shell with a circular outline, left and right valves being either equal or unequal. In some, lateral flattening and byssal attachment allows occupation of narrow crevices. Cementation by either valve is a further consequence of the loss of the anterior adductor muscle (the monomyarian form). Subsequent freedom from attachment, as in the scallops (Pectinidae), is associated with an almost circular outline, flat upper and cup-shaped lower valves, a deep radial sculpture, and, typically, bright coloration (Pecten).